WhatsApp to Ban AI Chatbots via Business API From January 2026

WhatsApp, the messaging service owned by Meta Platforms, is tightening its policy around AI-powered assistants offered through its Business API. The company announced that, effective January 15, 2026, the platform will prohibit “general-purpose” chatbots from using the WhatsApp Business Solution.

Under the revised terms, any provider of artificial intelligence or machine-learning technology – including large language models, generative-AI platforms or general-purpose AI assistants – will be barred from “accessing or using the WhatsApp Business Solution … for the purposes of providing, delivering, offering, selling, or otherwise making available such technologies when such technologies are the primary … functionality”.

Meta clarified that the change is not aimed at business-specific automation. For example, corporations using AI agents for customer-service functions – like airlines handling flight updates – are unaffected. The measure is aimed specifically at open-ended conversational bots such as those deployed by OpenAI and Perplexity, which built assistants on WhatsApp using its large user base.

The company’s stated rationale: the WhatsApp Business API was built to support business-to-consumer interactions – such as support and transactional messaging – not for full-scale AI-assistant distribution. Meta said these bot-centric use cases imposed unexpected loads on system infrastructure and messaging volumes outside the design scope of the API. The move also aligns with Meta’s broader revenue model for WhatsApp—where the Business API is a key monetization channel based on message templates and categories. Third-party AI assistants often circumvent existing pricing structures and deliver high-volume conversational traffic.